Bubble Jig!

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drysideshooter

Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
244
I know many others have endorsed the Bubble Jig, but as a completely new knife maker I wanted to chime in and say I can't imagine not having one. I have no illusions of grandeur and know my first knives won't be something I am too proud of once I have made several more. That said, I am sure I would have probably spent more on knife steel that ended up being paper weights and not even worthy of having scales put on that what the Bubble Jig cost.

Fred was awesome and gave me some pointers on practicing. I found profiling some knives pretty easy and a lot of fun. I was somewhat hesitant, even after some practice, to ruin what I thought were decent looking blanks, by blowing the bevel grinding. I should't have been so concerned, getting accustomed to using the Bubble Jig happened pretty quickly, and my comfort level and confidence grew quickly as well. I still have a lot of practice to do with applying the right pressure, how fast the belt should be turning, etc., but I am already getting comfortable keeping the bubble centered and making passes on each side. As a newb it was really cool to see the grind lines progressing evenly up each side, and I know without the Bubble Jig they wouldn't have been nearly as even on each side, and certainly not from side to side. Once I was done with the 2 degree setting, taking the bubble off the clamp and finishing the flat grind to the spine was pretty easy and intuitive. I buggered the tip a bit by lifting my support hand at the end of a pass, and will need to re-profile it a bit.

Consider me a big fan of both the Bubble Jig and Fred as well. The Bubble Jig was money very well spent. A better life through good tools.
 
I really like mine as well.One thing if your steel is warped or not flat your grind lines can differ
from side to side.Great for false edges & primary edge at whatever degree you want.Check out his ERU
I love mine.
 
Does he still make the ERU? I have heard about his sharpener before, but don't see it on his website.

I have an Edgepro sharpener that I've used for years for sharpening and really like it.

Do you use your Bubble Jig for sharpening as well on the gridnder?
 
I bought mine about six months ago so I think so.Check youtube it will give you a good idea
of what it's all about.For changing edge geometry,chipouts ect or if the blade is very very dull yes.I check it against the ERU (or vise versa)
and it's always at the same degree between the two.Takes all the guess work out.Very repeatable from ERU to grinder.
Or from grinder to ERU.Hope that made sense.You can do it one of two ways:1. with the degree wedges(edge up)
2:set the bubble to vertical level and adjust your platten to the degree you want(edge down) #2 is how I do it.
I use a level and flat surface plate to vertically level the bubble jig by the way. Good Luck. Lu.
 
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